Will ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ Mark The End of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine?

While on the set of The Wolverine last fall, we couldn’t help but ask star Hugh Jackman about what’s in store for his future with the franchise, since he had joked previously that he’d do “eleven more” X-Men movies. At the time, Jackman didn’t want to look past his work on his current project but he wasn’t shy about talking how grueling his workout regiment and diet was.

We later found out that Matthew Vaughn, then-director of the X-Men: Days of Future Past, had already pitched to him the time-travel story of of the next X-Men team-up film, where Jackman’s Wolverine would again be front and center as the character who must travel back in time in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Is there a future beyond this story for Jackman’s Wolverine?

Speaking with MTV at the Toronto International Film Festival, Jackman reflects on what he hints may be his last scene as the Adamantium-laced mutant hero:

“It may be the last. By the way, it didn’t hit me until three weeks before the end [of shooting 'X-Men: Days of Future Past], because we promoted ‘The Wolverine’ and I came back on set with three weeks to go, and that’s when I went, ‘Well, who knows? Maybe there’s no more Wolverine. Maybe this is it. Who knows? Maybe. So I really made the most of those last few weeks. I enjoyed every time I put the claws on. I nicked everything off the set, so Halloween, come to me and I’ll hook you up. I keep saying it’s like two movies in one, but with the size of it it’s really three in one. It really is going to blow people away because of the story.”

On the story front, Jackman – who owned the stage at Comic-Con while the entire cast made a surprise appearance to promote X-Men: Days of Future Past - recently has been hyping up the Bryan Singer feature by describing it as not just two films in one, but three, referencing just how much comic book content is packed into it.

As for the future of Wolverine, while Jackman plays it smart and professional (and surely, for negotiation reasons) about not confirming future projects or desires, it’s a safe bet he’ll be around for a few more films to come. When chatting with Hutch Parker, producer on many of the X-Men films, he told us Jackman’s a great sport and loves the character more than anyone, explaining that it’s up to the studio to provide great stories worthy of his effort. He was confident they could make a third Wolverine solo outing and one rumor had Fox offering a four-picture extension to keep playing Wolverine.

According to Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2) however, who’s currently writing and hoping to direct X-Force for the studio, the future of the franchise isn’t with character spinoffs but with new teams. Fantastic Four is next in line after Days of Future Past with a spring 2015 release date and ideally, X-Force is next, possibly in 2016. That feature could very well bring back Hugh Jackman as well as he is a crucial part of the modern X-Force team in Marvel Comics. There’s even the possibility that an older Jackman could play a version of the time-travelling mutant Cable which would allow him to play a different type of character with a different backstory.

What we do know is that James Mangold’s The Wolverine permanently changed the character emotionally and physically and how that carries into Days of Future Past remains to be seen, but after realizing he has purpose in life as a “soldier” it would seem strange to not see Jackman sporting claws and mutton chops for years to come.

jackman is a great actor and needs to move on to headlight another
potential great franchise. fox’s shelflife for their marvel movies is gradually expiring, if this character ever goes back to marvel its time to
find a new logan.

So Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige saying “we can only financially and creatively release 2 movies per year” and having their calendars full until 2021 isn’t the first clue that them acquiring X-Men and Spider-Man would be a stupid move to make?

I would prefer a stocky, short Wolverine. Maybe that is wishful thinking but that’s just me. The actor is out there. You just have to look for him. Hugh has done a pretty good job but he was never the true Wolverine from the comic. It starts with the look.

They were never looking for someone who fit the look of the comic book character and after Jackman leaves I doubt they will go in a drastically direction. They want someone that can sell movie tickets and are probably not as interested in emulating the look of the comics.

If the film proves to be a passing of the torch in that the First Class story line will become the main X-Men story, keeping him on and evolving him into Cable as a tie-in to the original X-Men story line is an interesting way of allowing Hugh Jackman to stay around but become another character. Maybe he was on to something when he says ‘maybe there’s no more wolverine.’ It can allow them to eventually introduce a new, younger Logan.

Cable is not Wolverine. Cable is the kid of Cyclops and Madelaine Pryor. Quit making multiple possibilities for the characters, writers…you are confusing and not showing any talent, just superhero fantasy football gone wild!

Don’t you honestly think that it’s far more logical from a story perspective to have a Logan/Cable composite than do the following?

Bring back Cyclops
Bring in Madeline Pryor
Spend sufficient time to make us care about her and buy that Cyclops could fall in love with her clone.
Explain the idea behind a techno organic virus
Explain why sending sending young cable into the future in necessary
Explain why he’s back, and what that has to do with anything.

Sounds a tad convoluted to me?

I’ve been reading marvel comics for 25 years and I truly love this universe…. But these ARE NOT pointless changes to cannon. You have to try and understand that movies simply don’t work in the same way that comics do. Comics don’t rely on actors for one and operate on a sliding timescale, characters never truly age and aren’t bound to contracts. comics more importantly (and this is ESCPECIALLY TRUE of Claremonts X-Men) can tell a long form soap opera revealing plot details slowly over 100′s of issues spanning years! In the Claremont run case he was paying off stuff almost a decade after the fact in some cases!

Movies for the most part have to be a satisfying experience in and of themselves, working with actors who age and a budget. They don’t have an infinite canvas to paint on unfortunately and they also have to appeal to a general audience as well as the rabid fanbase.

General audiences love Hugh Jackman but there’s no escaping the fact that he’s ageing out of the role and that the physical training demands are overbearing. He loves this universe and deserves to be rewarded for being in 7 financially successful movies so let him be cable.

It 100% serves the story considering the future/past time travel implications and sets him up to headline x-force in a different role. The character of Cable doesn’t have to be different from the comics in any significant way. He can still have a techno virus, be a grizzly world weary soldier and carry an oversized gun. His telekinetic powers are not at all crucial to his character.

Same apply’s to this current J.A.R.V.I.S, Stark, Ultron thing… If it’s true it’s just far better service to the story as it exists on screen.

Things you would say about Hank Pym: family feud style

Creates ultron
Beats his wife
Whines a lot about his guilt
Scientist supreme!

He’s not the most sympathetic character for a tent pole Disney family comedy is he?

So don’t make it a comedy you might say?

Well guess what? Disney family action comedy makes 500 mil worldwide box office and makes the same again in toys. Wife beating character drama bums everyone out and probably sells no toys. Hank Pym never headlines his own comic for these reasons.

Went a bit off topic there, but you need to try to learn to embrace change!

The comics aren’t going anywhere and those stories are there for you anytime you want. As long as the respective studios take the properties seriously, and don’t treat us like we’re idiots then I’m happy with any change that serves the story but still respects the spirit of character.

@Goldilocks
Wolverine is Cable in the ultimate universe. You seem to hold canonical stuff in pretty high importance.
Don’t you honestly think that it’s far more logical from a story perspective to have a Logan/Cable composite than do the following?:
Bring back Cyclops
Bring in Madeline Pryor
Spend sufficient time to make us care about her and buy that Cyclops could fall in love with her clone.
Explain the idea behind a techno organic virus
Explain why sending sending young cable into the future is necessary
Explain why he’s back, and what that has to do with anything.

Sounds a tad convoluted to me?

I’ve been reading marvel comics for 25 years and I truly love this universe…. But these ARE NOT pointless changes to cannon. You have to try and understand that movies simply don’t work in the same way that comics do. Comics don’t rely on actors for one and operate on a sliding timescale, characters never truly age and aren’t bound to contracts. comics more importantly (and this is ESCPECIALLY TRUE of Claremonts X-Men) can tell a long form soap opera revealing plot details slowly over 100′s of issues spanning years! In the Claremont run case he was paying off stuff almost a decade after the fact in some cases!

Movies for the most part have to be a satisfying experience in and of themselves, working with actors who age and a budget. They don’t have an infinite canvas to paint on unfortunately and they also have to appeal to a general audience as well as the rabid fanbase.

General audiences love Hugh Jackman but there’s no escaping the fact that he’s ageing out of the role and that the physical training demands are overbearing. He loves this universe and deserves to be rewarded for being in 7 financially successful movies so let him be cable.

It 100% serves the story considering the future/past time travel implications and sets him up to headline x-force in a different role. The character of Cable doesn’t have to be different from the comics in any significant way. He can still have a techno virus, be a grizzly world weary soldier and carry an oversized gun. His telekinetic powers are not at all crucial to his character.

Same apply’s to this current J.A.R.V.I.S, Stark, Ultron thing… If it’s true it’s just far better service to the story as it exists on screen.

Things you would say about Hank Pym: family feud style

Creates ultron
Smacks his wife around
Whines a lot about his guilt
Scientist supreme!

He’s not the most sympathetic character for a tent pole Disney family comedy is he?

So don’t make it a comedy you might say?

Well guess what? Disney family action comedy makes 500 mil worldwide box office and makes the same again in toys. Wife beating character drama bums everyone out and probably sells no toys. Hank Pym never headlines his own comic for these reasons.
Went a bit off topic there, but you need to try to learn to embrace change!
The comics aren’t going anywhere and those stories are there for you anytime you want. As long as the respective studios take the properties seriously, and don’t treat us like we’re idiots then I’m happy with any change that serves the story but still respects the spirit of character.

I always loved Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, he’s right at the top if you ask me. I would be happy with Hugh having another 3 films, Days of Future Past, another Wolverine solo outing (come on, they finally found the right track with The Wolverine), and finally X-Force, where he can maybe pass the torch onto someone else. If he backs down now, I would still be totally okay with it, he’s spent nearly 15 years as the character and I gotta thank him for his great portrayal.

I would say stale but to me RDJ has failed to evolve the character. For 4 films now we get the same narcasistic character with the same fast spitting wit. Id like to see him be serious in a film. I thought after the avenvera incident he would take everything seriously and only joke when necessary

When Pepper Potts drops down into the fire near the end of the film, it didn’t effect me at all but RDJ’s reaction to it did. It was just a couple of seconds, but I thought it was the best part of the film, even if the situation he was reacting to wasn’t all that heavy.

That little scene alone tells me RDJ can carry heavy evolution of the character with ease, the script just isn’t giving him the chance.

At least he has never shown ill-will towards the character or the fans. Other two-face actors say they are proud to play a certain character only to rant and say they felt miserable playing the part later on.

+1 Taking the solo Wolverine movie(s) down the road of X-23 and Daken could easily produce it’s own trilogy and spawn two separate ones. By the time the torch has been passed to his son and/or X-23, he can easily walk away from the character the right way.

Out of all the actors that have played comic book characters, Hugh Jackman is by far my favorite. He is a brilliant actor and his dedication not only to the role (diet and exercise to become the Wolverine) but his dedication to the fans is amazing. He loves playing Wolverine and it comes through in his performances, even if it is just one line like in First Class. If he could play this character forever, he would. However, he can’t do it forever. Unlike Wolverine, Jackman is getting older.

The main issue with casting Danzig is probably his acting ability and drawing power outside of a niche audience. Even as whacked out as Fox has been with their Marvel properties I doubt a major movie gets financed starring Danzig….

honestly, yes someone else will be wolverine eventually, and maybe he’ll look alot more like the comic book counterpart, but we all know, hugh will be missed. he’s been wolverine in 6 films goin on 7. and maybe in 10 or 15 years he can come back for “old man logan”

High Jackman is the Wolverine. and IF he is going to be done doing it make ONE last movie..and that movie non other than Old Man Logan!!! we would all love to see that but only if the franchise is done. So PLEASE Mr. Jackman stay as our favorite Adimantium Claw bearing mutant or make Old Man Logan and end your career as Wolverine right and proper!

Hugh has done a great job with what he has been given. People blame the actor, but I blame the writers and directors for Wolverine: Origins, and X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Wolverine is Hugh Jackman, He’s Proven it 5 times, plus again in X-Men: Days Of Future Past. I want bone claws Wolvie to go, please bring back the Adimantium Claws. I rank The Wolverine at least the Top 5 of this years best movies.

I think Jackman has 2 or 3 movies left in him before he leaves…more if 20th century fox and disney come to some sort of agreement and have wolverine join the avengers or fight the hulk…i know it will never happen but a guy can dream…if he does decide to retire, get Karl Urban…he’d make a good wolverine

All those Hugh Haters should go smack their face on a brick wall then think to themselves, “Hugh is Wolverine, Hugh…Wovlerine….Jackman…..Logan” and repeat that till it goes in their silly little heads! Then also, Marvel owning X-men movie rights might give us a comic-y-er version of them but Marvel would never do so. Plus, Hugh is a great actor, and fits the looks and the tone of his personality almost perfect! Btw….anyone thought of a spidey/wolverine movie? Now that would be…pretty freakin’ COOL